Flatulence had a role in literature since the mists of time, as In Rabelais' Gargantua's cycle reads several times the word pet (FART).
In the translated version of Penguin's "1001 Arabian Nights Tales," a story titled "The Historic Fart" tells of a man that flees his country from the sheer embarrassment of farting at his wedding.
In Dante's Divine Comedy, the last line of Inferno Chapter XXI reads: ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta ("and he used his buttocks as a trumpet"), in the last example the use of this natural body function underlined a demoniac condition.
In Chaucer's "Miller's Tale" (one of the Canterbury Tales), the character Nicholas hangs his buttocks out a window and farts in the face of his rival Absolom. Absolom then sears Nicholas's bum with a red-hot poker ("Nicholas quickly raised the window and thrust his ass far out...At this Nicholas let fly a fart with a noise as great as a clap of thunder, so that Absolom was almost overcome by the force of it. But he was ready with his hot iron and smote Nicholas in the middle of his ass."). (Lines 690–707)
In James Joyce's Ulysses, the main character Leopold Bloom breaks wind in the "Sirens" chapter of the book.
In Emile Zola's La Terre (the 15th volume of the series Les Rougon-Macquart), the eldest Fouan son (called Jesus Christ because of his long hair and beard) can fart at will and keeps winning free drinks by betting on his skill.
The Walter the Farting Dog series of children's books by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray feature a dog with a flatulence problem as a central comedic element.
A few individuals, such as Le Pétomane, have brought flatulence onto the stage in one-man shows.
In the cinema, farting was traditionally featured in films intended for adult audiences such as Blazing Saddles, but is now an acceptable source of humor even in children's films such as The Lion King.
Farting is no longer summarily censored from television broadcasts in the United States. During the telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII, a beer advertisement featured a horse passing gas.
In the TV series South Park The in-series TV show Terrance and Phillip features two Canadian boys of the show's namesake who rely mostly on farts for their humor.
The Gas We Pass (ISBN 0916291529) is a popular children's book in the United States about flatulence.
Curiosities
Le Petomane "the Fartiste" was a well-liked French performer in the 19th Century who did flatulence impressions and held shows.
Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford farted while swearing loyalty to Queen Elizabeth I, and consequently went into self-imposed exile for seven years. After his return, the Queen was reported to have reassured de Vere: "My Lord, I had quite forgotten the fart." (John Aubrey, Brief Lives)
Emperor Claudius passed a law legalizing farting at banquets out of concern for people's health. There was a widespread misconception that a person could be poisoned by retaining farts.
In August 2005, New Scientist magazine reported that inventors Michael Zanakis and Philip Femano had been awarded a US patent (U.S. Patent 6,055,910) for a "toy gas-fired missile and launcher assembly". The abstract of the patent makes it clear that this is, in fact, a fart-powered rocket:
A ... missile is composed of a soft head and a tail extending therefrom formed by a piston. The piston is telescoped into the barrel of a launcher having a closed end on which is mounted an electrically activated igniter, the air space between the end of the piston and the closed end of the barrel defining a combustion chamber. Joined to the barrel, and communicating with the chamber therein.